Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Ryder
NOW
Pounding on the front door awakens me from a restless sleep. What now , I wonder as I go to see what’s happening.
My mom tightens the belt around her robe as she answers the door to cops holding up their badges.
“We’re looking for David Elliott.” The older of the two cops is my high school classmate, Caleb Anders. He doesn’t look at me.
“He’s not here.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t come home earlier.”
“Are you able to track his location?”
“No.”
That’s a lie. She’s been tracking us for years.
“Why are you looking for him?” I ask.
“He was involved in a car accident earlier.”
“Is he all right?” Mom asks.
“We don’t know. That’s one of several reasons we’d like to speak to him. Would you mind calling him?”
Mom hesitates.
“Do it,” I tell her with a sinking feeling. There’s no way they’d be here if this didn’t somehow involve my case. We can’t do anything to make this situation worse than it already is.
She pulls her phone from the pocket of her robe and calls Dad. “Where are you? The police are here looking for you.”
I can’t hear his side of the conversation.
“Come home right now.” After a pause, she says, “Dave, we need you. Please don’t do anything stupid.”
“Ma’am, where is he?”
She puts her hand over the phone, so she won’t be overheard by Dad. “What’s going to happen to him?”
“He’ll be arrested and charged with attempted vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of an accident, intentionally causing an accident and suspected arson.”
“ What? ” Her shriek pierces the air around me. “He wouldn’t do that!”
A click sounds, indicating Dad has ended the call.
“I’m afraid he did cause the accident. We have multiple witnesses as well as camera footage from Mount Hope that shows the moment of impact.”
“Who did he hit?” I ask, fearing I already know the answer.
“Blaise Merrick.”
“Is she…”
“She survived with injuries.”
“Are you sure you don’t track his location?”
Mom’s hands shake as she checks her phone. “He’s shut it off.”
I use my own phone to text Cam. Dad hit Blaise’s car on the MH bridge. She survived with injuries. Cops are here now, looking for him for that and suspected arson. One of the cops is Caleb Anders.
Son of a bitch. What was dad thinking? And arson?? WTF?
No idea. He’s shut off his location.
I’ll see what I can find out.
“Cam is on it,” I tell Mom as I guide her to sit on the sofa.
The glow from emergency lights in front of the house filters in through the curtains. I’m sure the neighbors are gathered in the street.
“How could he have done this?” she asks tearfully. “Didn’t he learn his lesson the last time?”
My dad’s unraveling is my fault. Everything is my fault. He never would’ve done any of the things they’re accusing him of if I hadn’t done what I did.
We received word two days ago that Neisy shot down the plea agreement. She wants the case to go to trial. As a result, the AG has pulled the pending offer, and I’ll stand trial. In addition, the ten men—including Cam, Arlo and Dallas—who signed the affidavit fourteen years ago are required to publicly disavow the statement and apologize to Neisy to avoid criminal charges. That’ll open them up to potential civil liabilities if she chooses to sue. And why wouldn’t she?
Yesterday, I paid the twenty-five-thousand-dollar retainer to Bridget to lead my defense team and prepare for Friday’s preliminary hearing. That left just five thousand dollars in the joint account I share with Caroline, which is terrifying with the mortgage and car payments due on the first of the month. There won’t be much left to support my family after those bills are paid.
I was still processing those shocking developments, and now this.
My phone rings with a call from Cam. “What’s up?”
“In addition to hitting her on the bridge and sending her into oncoming traffic, they think Dad torched the guest cabin where Blaise had been staying in LE.”
I’m speechless.
“This is bad, Ry. He’ll do hard time for this, and it was all for nothing. He could kill her, and her sworn statement would still be used in court.”
How will we pay for yet another defense attorney?
“Are you there?”
“Yeah. I don’t know what to say.”
“He might be able to mount a temporary insanity defense. His son was charged, he went off the deep end. It’s a stretch, but it might get him committed rather than sent to prison.”
“Maybe I can talk to him.”
“I’ll take it from here. Stay out of it. You’ve got enough to contend with.”
Before I can respond to that, the line goes dead.
My wife has left me and taken my children.
Mom is inconsolable.
My brother is furious.
My dad is under arrest—again.
All because of me.
I’ve never hated myself more.
Cam
NOW
My family is spinning out of control, and there’s not a damned thing I can do about it.
“What’s wrong?” Sienna asks when she emerges from our bedroom.
I got out of bed when I received Ryder’s initial text. “My dad’s suspected of trying to kill Blaise.”
“Oh, God. What can I do?”
“Stay here with the kids and don’t talk to anyone about this.”
“Where’re you going?”
“To try to find him.” I go into the bedroom to change into jeans and a sweater, grab my wallet and head for the garage.
“Is Blaise okay?”
“She’s injured. I’m not sure how seriously.”
“Let me know what’s going on?”
“I will.” I turn back to her. “Please, Sienna. Don’t talk about this to anyone.”
“I won’t. I never would.”
Nodding, I leave her in the kitchen and go into the garage. As I drive around the town where I’ve lived my entire life, looking for my dad’s black Chevy truck, I try to think about where he might be.
The last few days have been the worst of my life. Much worse than the first time Ryder was charged. There’s so much more at stake now that we’re married with families. More than once in recent days it’s occurred to me that I should’ve come forward when Ryder first confessed to me.
Maybe if I had, we wouldn’t be facing ruination now. But I also know I never would’ve done that then, even if it was the right thing. He’s my brother, my closest friend. He was everything to me then. There was no way I’d ever have turned him in.
But I should have.
If I had, he would’ve done his time by now, and this nightmare would be in the past for all of us. Instead, it’s a thousand times worse than it would’ve been then. Hindsight is indeed twenty-twenty.
I take a call from Arlo. “I just heard that the cops are looking for your dad. What’s going on?”
“He tried to kill Blaise.”
“He did what ?”
“You heard me.”
“Come on… He really tried to kill her?”
“Possibly twice. The cottage where she was staying in LE was torched.”
“I heard there was a fire, but not that it involved her.”
“She wasn’t in the cottage at the time, but they can still charge him with attempted murder on top of arson if they can prove he was targeting her, which of course he was.”
“I’ve got to say, man… This might be the end of the line for me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve stood by Ryder for all these years, defended him, quit my job to work on his campaign, and then I heard he was willing to plead guilty, which opened the rest of us to potential criminal and civil liability. He was thinking only of himself when he negotiated that deal, and now your dad has tried to kill my sister? I don’t agree with what she’s doing, but he tried to kill her? Twice? ”
“Arlo…”
“There’s nothing you can say. All this time I believed him when he said he didn’t do it. I staked my own reputation on his word. But that was all bullshit, wasn’t it? He did attack Neisy. He did rape her. And he lied to us for years , and now his lies could cost me and the others everything we have. Your dad tried to kill my sister to save a guilty rapist. I’m fucking done.”
The line goes dead.
My heart is broken. Arlo has been a brother to us, but I don’t blame him for cutting his ties. Our family is disintegrating before my eyes. Why would anyone want to be anywhere near us?
I look for my dad for hours while repeatedly trying to call him.
I’m shocked when he calls me back.
“What the hell were you thinking?”
He breaks down into deep sobs. “I had to do something to save him.”
“You’ve only made everything worse.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“ What did you think would happen when you tried to kill Blaise Merrick twice ? That doesn’t help Ryder.”
“I thought if she couldn’t testify—”
“They have her sworn statement!”
“They can use that?”
“Yeah, Dad. They can use it.”
“I had to do something before they ruined his life.”
“He ruined his own life.”
“Why would you say such a thing?”
“Because it’s true. He did this to himself, and he’s taking the rest of us down with him.”
“What do you know?”
“I know the truth, Dad, and if you’d asked me that question before you’d gone after Blaise, maybe you wouldn’t have made everything worse for Ryder and for the rest of us.”
“How could he have done such a thing?”
“You’ll have to ask him that. In the meantime, you need to turn yourself in.
“I’m not doing that.”
“You have to!”
“If they want to come after me, they’ll have to kill me.”
“Dad, are you thinking of Mom or your grandchildren or anyone but yourself when you say something like that?”
“I love you all, but I won’t sit by and watch them destroy your brother.”
“You can’t stop what’s happening to him!”
“Watch me.”
The line goes dead, filling me with dread at realizing as bad as things are now, it could still get much worse.
I call the Hope Police and ask to speak to Caleb. They say they’ll have him call me, which he does a few minutes later.
“I spoke to my dad. He won’t turn himself in.”
“We’ve got the whole state looking for him, Cam. We’ll find him eventually.”
“He said if you want him, you’ll have to kill him. He’s determined to save Ryder.”
“Shit. Okay, thanks for the heads-up.”
“Will you keep me posted on what’s going on?”
“If I can. This is pretty hot. Trying to kill a witness who’s prepared to testify against your son is a big deal.”
“I understand, and I’m sorry. I don’t know what he was thinking.”
“Hang in there, Cam. I’ll be in touch if I can.”
“Thank you.”
I drive home a short time later as it becomes clear our lives are ruined.
That much is clear at this point.
Ryder calls me. “Did you find Dad?”
“No, but I talked to him, and he’s a mess. Thought he was helping. And Arlo called, too. He cut ties with us. Dad trying to kill Blaise was it for him, especially after he heard you were going to plead guilty.”
“I wanted to end this for all of us. I thought if I took responsibility, it would save the rest of you.”
“Instead you opened us up to civil liabilities that could ruin us.”
“It’s not enough to say I’m sorry. I know that.”
“I’ve got to go.”
“Cam—”
I end the call. I can’t take anymore right now.
At home, I sit in the car for a long time pondering the horrific mess we’re in.
Sienna comes to the garage door, sees me sitting there and comes out to get into the car. “I’d ask how it went, but I can see it wasn’t good.”
“Not good at all. He thought he was helping by trying to get rid of her, and he says the cops will have to kill him because he’s not giving up.”
“Oh, God.”
“Arlo called, too. He’s done with all of us.”
“I’m sorry, Cam.”
“Everyone is so damned sorry, but if any of us had done the right thing back in the day, none of this would be happening.”
She recoils. “Are you blaming me ?”
“No, I’m blaming myself. I wish I’d done something when he told me he did it.”
“You never would have. There’s no sense in having that regret. It’s pointless. You were Team Ryder from the first second you were placed in his arms as a baby, and there’s no way you would’ve turned on him—then or ever.”
“It haunted me.” I’ve never said that out loud before. “That we’d done what we did to her…” I shake my head. “I was sick over it.”
“I was, too, but think about who we were then and what was important to us. We did what we thought was right.”
“We were old enough to know better, Sienna.”
“Yes, I suppose we were. So what now?”
“Now we wait and hope my father doesn’t make everything worse.”